This is the month in which much of “the West” went into lockdown and physical distance as a way to deal with a pandemic.

There were reports that in that closed network that spies on every one, whether we belong to it or not, and is only accessible by selling your soul and friends, there was a debate on whether to actively promote the mass being cancelled this month as some attempted to for the last couple of months

The list, open to subscription, and accessible to any one with an email address courtesy of a tech collective bent on freedom, reminds that closed network that whatever anyone, in that network selling your soul and friends, or anywhere else for that matter, thinks or says is irrelevant, since it has no status and is in no way an “official” London CM site. Not that any site could be official given the self-organised nature of Critical Mass. Not this site, not any site. (And even if there could be such an “official” thing, sure it wouldn’t be on that particular closed site!)

As for me – providing my faithful old steed is back out of bike hospital in time on Friday afternoon, I expect I’ll happen to be under the south end of Waterloo Bridge as soon as possible after 6pm to enjoy the summer breezes. And at 6.30pm-ish, I expect I’ll go for a little ride around town; who knows whether any other cyclists will, coincidentally, be doing something similar.

If anyone rides CM exists, arguably it exists even if nobody rides – problem is that there are over 11000 members of the CM London FB group, vast majority don’t live in London, of those who do the vast majority don’t ever ride the monthly mass, of those who do the vast majority aren’t in concurrence with the basic tenets of the mass. FB LCM isn’t fit for purpose – doesn’t even make announcements of when the last Friday of the month is. the upshot being that anyone making a sensible point (it does happen) gets immediately swamped by posts from those contrary to the very movement. compare it to the lone voice who has made their way to the front at tottenham ct. rd. to implore that the mass not proceed down oxford st. – as it is closed to cars – only to be ignored…. but such is the way of the beast. ironically the recent revolution over there seems to have been ignited by one of the (now removed) admin taking it upon themselves to cancel mass. i am sure we can all agree that such a declaration was unadvisable both with relation to the mass and with relation to leadership. in their defence the admin in question constructed a straw poll & upon a majoritarian interpretation (which is perhaps reasonable for this particular mass movement) and despite the limitations of this tactic, clearly won the poll which closed at midnight. just prior to midnight – another admin removed the poll, removed the admin who set it up, appointed more of their personal friends as admin, and removed the notification of mass being cancelled. naturally everything has descended into name calling, but the main pertinent points as i see them are: some have been making the claim that mass could be compared to the other recent cm inspired rides like xr’s recent outing or the southwark ride tomorrow 2PM PECKHAM RYE PARK . posts have been made both claiming that different rules apply and that the same law applies. (n.b. nobody has mentioned the ibike corporate ride also planned tomorrow – perhaps such posts have been removed by the admin as they are usually very supportive of & have close ties to cyclehoop.) some have pointed out that any cm ride would invite the anti-cycling lobby to accuse bikes of something unpopular. many have made largely uninformed comments one way or the other with regard to spreading virus. anyway in other related news houston CM fb have announced they are cancelled